This was our second cruise (first one was Western Caribbean with Royal Caribbean). We were cruising with my in-laws (veteran cruisers on several different lines) and my sister-in-law and her husband (first-time cruisers), so there were a variety of perspectives on this particular voyage. The long and short of it is my sister-in-law and her husband liked the cruise, but got tired of the rest of us apologizing for how bad the service and food were and how they should give cruising another try with another cruise line.

As mentioned in other reviews, embarkation was very disorganized but due to inefficiency of the Port of Seattle staff. Once our bags were checked, we flew through the check-in line, but only because we upgraded to a balcony several months before and got to go in the express line. We were on ship an hour before the rest of our party and even had a private (but very unfriendly) escort who took us to the buffet.

By the way, the balcony is COMPLETELY worth the extra cost. We got it mostly because my wife is a touch claustrophobic, and we weren't sure if we would spend time out there on a "cold water" cruise, but we spent almost the whole day out there on the "Glacier Bay" day. The whales seemed almost close enough to touch. Also, because of the wind chill factor, the balcony was much warmer that the main decks. Read more